Joran van der Sloot's Peruvian murder trial to begin

Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Mountain Brook teen Natalee Holloway, is due in Peruvian courtroom Friday morning to face a homicide charge in the death of young Lima woman, several media outlets report.

Van der Sloot, 24, and a Dutch national, in the 2010 slaying of a Stephany Flores. The prosecution is seeking conviction on murder and robbery charges, CNN reports. A request by the woman's family for a more serious charge of involving premeditation has been rejected, thus far by the court. He could face up to 30 years in prison but ultimately serve as little as two years.

The court is set to convene at 9 a.m. CST (10 a.m. in Lima) in the former Lurigancho prison, now called San Pedro prison, according to Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Van der Sloot has been held in the prison since June.

Van der Sloot is best known known internationally as the chief suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Holloway who disappeared while on a graduation-related trip to Aruba where Van der Sloot lived at the time.

Van der Sloot has never been charged in the Holloway disappearance but he has been indicted by federal officials in Birmingham for an alleged attempt to extort money from her family for information on her disappearance and suspected death.

Meanwhile, a Florida doctor who has become a defender of van der Sloot, including paying part of his legal costs, is maintaining that he is innocent and the victim of an international conspiracy involving the United States, Peruvian and Chilean governments, as well as several wealthy US citizens, according to video interview from CBS.